ATLANTA (CN) — The trial of an activist accused of violating Georgia’s RICO law by participating in protests over Atlanta’s planned police and fire training facility, dubbed “Cop City” by opponents, was delayed indefinitely Wednesday morning after defense attorneys said they would appeal a judge’s decision denying a motion to dismiss the case.
Ayla King, 19, would have been the first of 61 defendants to stand trial after being charged in a sprawling racketeering indictment last year. King is accused of participating in a criminal conspiracy to halt the construction of the $90 million Atlanta Public Safety Training Center by occupying the 381-acre forest where building is ongoing.
A jury was selected in December 2023, after King's October demand for a speedy trial, but defense attorneys say the case has not moved quickly enough.
The trial's scheduled opening statements were canceled, and proceedings postponed, after King’s attorneys announced they would appeal a decision handed down by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Adams earlier this week rejecting a motion to acquit King on the basis that the speedy trial demand was not met.
Under Georgia law, a jury must be seated and sworn into service by the end of the speedy trial deadline. The deadline in Fulton County is two terms of court, or about four months.
Through defense attorney Surinder Chadha Jimenez, King argued in the motion that the court should not have agreed to a 30-day continuance after the 14-person jury panel was selected, and instead should have kept the trial set for the November-December 2023 term of court.
The recess between jury selection and the scheduled start of the trial on Wednesday “undermines the spirit of Georgia’s speedy trial statute,” King argued.
The case will remain in limbo until an appellate court rules on King’s appeal.
Judge Adams told the assembled jurors that, while she could not give an exact timeline, they could be called to reconvene some time in February. If the trial moves forward, Adams estimated proceedings will last four weeks.
The judge added that she had not experienced such a situation in her 15 years on the bench.
King was arrested in March while attending a music festival near the construction site and was charged with joining a conspiracy to prevent construction of the training center.
State prosecutors say King committed criminal trespass and joined “an organized mob of individuals designed to overwhelm the police force in an attempt to occupy the DeKalb forest and cause property damage.”
King pleaded not guilty to the single charge of violating Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
Several other defendants charged in the indictment are accused of other offenses, including domestic terrorism, arson and money laundering. Prosecutors have accused those defendants of acts including burning construction equipment, vandalizing private property and throwing rocks and fireworks at police.
The plan to build the training facility has faced fierce local and national opposition since it was announced, largely from activists who fear greater militarization of the police and those who are concerned about environmental damage to one of the Atlanta’s largest remaining green spaces.
Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and other supporters of the project say the new training center — slated to be the nation’s largest — is necessary to replace inadequate facilities and retain new police officers and first responders.
A legal battle related to an effort to force a citywide referendum repealing Dickens's authority to lease city land to the Atlanta Police Foundation for the facility is pending in federal court.
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